The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-03-18
THROUGH A BRIDGE.

!, Terrible Accident to a Boston Suburban
| Train-A Bridge Coliapses and Eight
| Cars Fall Into an Abyss-Twenty-Five
| Persons Killed Outright and Over One
Hundred Wounded.
| Boston; March 15.-An accident which
| equals; if it does not surp2ss in number of
| dead and wounded, the recent horrible
| railroad disaster near Hartford, Vt; &C.
Cured in the suburbs of this city yester-
day morning on the Boston & Providence
| railroad. As the Dedham branch train,
which leaves Dedham at 705 a. IN.
and is due at Boston at 740 a. m.
was passing over the Bussey Park bridge
which crosses South street between
Forest Hill and Roslindale, about a mile
from Jamaica Plain, the structure gave
way and six cars heavily laden with human
| beings plunged thirty feet to the roadway
beneath. Three of the nine cars which
composed the train remained on the en-
bankment having crossed the bridge in
safety, but they were wrenched from the
rails and nearly demolished.
The train was one of the largest and
heaviest on the morning list and as usual
! it was heavily loaded with people going to
their work in the city. 1t is wonder that
| any escaped alive, and, as it is, the names
perhaps more. 1t is impossible to obtain
an absolutely correct amount of the NUM-
Der injured, but it will reach ia or more
| OF these at least are fatally and 25 quite
| badly hurt, and the remainder received
| only slight bruises.
The scene directly after the accident was
heartrending. The shrieks of the injured
| were so loud that they were heard in the
| 1apo ia no T1o Cf
| the killed were horribly mangled, in some
| instances their heads being entirely
| severed from their bodies, and many
almost beyond recognition. In
one place seven bodies taken out of the
| wreck were placed in . row. All were
badly, mangled. Large numbers of women
were on the train and many were to be
| seen in the ruins. One woman was cut
completely in two, the upper half only be-
| ing found. Two men who were saved
| had their faces hacked, and the
| the car in which Conductor Tilden
was killed the breast and lungs of a hui
man being were found. In the roadway
and through thS adjacent pasture car
seat cushions, car wheels and trucks were
were human bodies, pools of blood and
fragments of human flesh which had liter
ally been gouged from the victims.
1t is stated that the bridge is compare
lively new one and that the accident was
caused by truck on one of the cars giving
| way, causing the car to strike against the
abutment of the bridge.
Mr.. Manly, of the city engineers Office,
made careful inspection of the bridge
soon after it had fallen. He said there was
no apparent reason for it's giving way or
for the breaking of the iron work. 1t
seemed as if some force had drawn it for
ward and thrown it from its bearings.
A Mr.. Blaisdell, who was crossing from
the first to the second car just as the train
struck the bridge, says he observed a
broken journal hanging down. This would
account for the carrying of the whole
bridge off the abutments. A bad flaw has
been found near the end of twelve-inch
truss, which rests few feet above the
debris. 1t shows diagonal fracture of the
iron thirteen inches long, of which eight
inches are black with rust while the rest
OF the fracture is fresh.
The scene of the accident is about a mile
from Jamaica Plain, one of Boston's sub
urbs, where the main line of the Boston &
Providence railroad branches off to the
left to Readyville and Providence, while
to the right runs sweeping curve, the
Dedham branch. This arm is built through
valley, and the embankment for long
distance is high one. South street,
which leaves Newton street near
the Buzzey woods, runs diagonally
under the track of the branch, and it was
into this cut that the cars of the train
plunged from the bridge which crossed it.
An inspection reveals the fact that the
eight cars comprising the train are jumbled
into complete wreck, not one of the
coaches escaping almost perfect demoli-
ton. From the location of the wrecked
cars it would seem that the first
three cars passed over the bridge
safely. The structure evidently gave
way when the fourth car was passing over
it. The five rear cars went through to the
roadway, landing in a mass of splinters in
the street The strain of the five falling
cars pulled the three coaches in advance
from the rail. They remained on top of the
embankment, but were pulled off their
trucks, and the floor of each was
forced nearly to the roof, while
the seats were Jumbled together
in great confusion. The end of the second
coach was mass of splinters caused by
the car ahead grinding against it when the
others went down the embankment. The
third coach was flattened to the ground as
if it had fallen on it's trucks from a great
height, although it remained on the edge
of the embankment. The roof of the fourth
car also remained on the embank-
ment, having evidently been showed
clean from it's fastenings where the coach
went through. The next four cars went
down i'll heap, the smoker, which was on
the rear of the train, falling in the midst
of the coaches and being actually ground
into small splinters. The inmates of the
smoker were all either killed or injured,
not one escaping without injury of some
kind. Two of the coaches went clear
across the roadway, landing against a
stone wall that bounded large field at the
foot of the hill
That the horrors of fire were not added to
the terrible disaster was due to the prompt
ness with which relief was sent. The
chemical engine from Roslindale was at
the. scene within twenty minutes after
the wreck occurred brought by letter.
carrier who gave an alarm of
fire upon observing flames issuing from
the debris. The flames were soon ex-
tinguished, and the firemen then did
excellent work in rescuing the injured
The stoves in all the cars were secure
ly fastened to the floors by iron bolts
and the doors of the stoves were
locked. In only one car did the stoves up
set, although in one instance stove was
smashed clear through the roof of the car.
= The cars which lie in the chasm form a
pile of wreckage 400 feet long by 100 feet
wide.
THE NATIONAL DRILL.
Over Two Hundred ORGANIZATIONS tn